Wildcats girls run Patroon win streak to section-best 118

By James Allen

Published 11:14 pm, Monday, January 6, 2014

The atmosphere was electric Monday night at Hudson High as the girls' basketball team played host to Maple Hill in a showdown of the two undefeated teams in the Patroon Conference. Maple Hill junior guard Bella Nelson's shooting prowess turned the highly anticipated contest into a one-sided affair.

Maple Hill blanked Hudson in the opening quarter and used a career-high 25 points from Nelson to carve out a 47-32 victory. The win is the 118th straight Patroon Conference triumph for the Wildcats (7-1, 6-0) — extending Maple Hill's Section II record.

Although Maple Hill coach Mark Bubniak does not address the league winning streak with his players, Nelson said they know teams want to spoil the Wildcats' fun.

"Hudson wanted to come out strong and be the team to break Maple Hill's record. I think that makes us want to come out even stronger," Nelson said.

Nelson drained two quick baskets in front of a raucous crowd. It became clear the Bluehawks (6-2, 5-1) were nervous. After a two-minute lull, Nelson drained a 3 and the Wildcats controlled both ends in opening a 16-0 lead after one quarter. Hudson missed all 15 shots and committed seven turnovers during the first eight minutes.

"It (the energy from the crowd) was awesome, especially in the first quarter, and I really think it got our team going," Nelson said. "We got off to a good run. These are the type of games we look forward to, especially during sectional time. We thrive off of it."

"To jump out like that is huge," Bubniak said. "Having an atmosphere like this is great and is only going to help many of our girls that have never played in a sectional game. It will serve us well down the road."

The Wildcats, which led 25-9 at halftime and 37-22 after three quarters, put the Bluehawks away as Nelson scored six straight points to push the lead to 45-27 with 4:47 left.

"She's really worked on her game a lot over the summer with the (Albany) Capitals and coming into the gym for extra shooting," Bubniak said of Nelson. "She might have taken personally at the beginning of the game when they threw a box-and-one on Lindsay Mannion."